Happy Thanksgiving!!

I am so incredibly blessed!!! I have so much to be thankful for but
this year I am especially thankful for my family, my friends, Karl an
this sweet little girl who I can't remember what life was like before
God blessed us with her!!

RG by the week- 5 weeks!!

WAHOO 5 WEEKS!! :) 

Stats:

We don't have another dr apt until her two month (which I'm not looking forward to considering she will be getting shots). I know that she seems to be getting heavier though :)

Her acne has mostly cleared up on her face and head but it has left her skin extremely rough and dry and flaky. Her acne has now moved to her chest and legs and a little but on her arms. These places don't look near as painful as her face did- more like a rash than anything. Hopefully her skin will be back to normal sooner than later.

Milestones:

She is getting better at following objects with her eyes and often she will look at you when you are talking to her. She also will sometimes mimic smiles or faces. She's talking more and more everyday. She has gotten really good at moving her neck and can turn it 90 degrees. She works on rolling onto her side. At 3 weeks she found her hands but now she is getting more consistent at getting them to her mouth and keeping them there.

Feeding:

It's about the same- every 2-4 hours although now she will feed anywhere from 10-30 minutes if she can stay awake. She can be a drowsy eater and when she does that I usually switch sides. She still has a bottle of formula every now and then.

Sleep:

This week has been sooo much better than last week! Although she is still only sleeping 1 1/2-3 hrs at a time, usually it is much easier to get her back to sleep. What I have found that works BEST during the night is to nurse her laying down. She will fall asleep when she is done and so will I (sometimes even before her!) we sleep like that sometimes and sometimes I put her back in her bouncer that sits in her pack-n-play. She will nurse/sleep/nurse until about noon or 2pm when she wakes up a little more. She still is sleeping a lot though.

I think it was Tuesday night she SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!! she slept from 1am-9am... When I woke up at 5:30 I was shocked she was still sleeping but k checked on her and I went back to bed. I woke up again at 8:30 worried abs checked on her and she was fine. Finally around 9am she woke up :) BEST. NIGHT. EVER!!

Behavior:

Overall she is such a happy girl! She likes to talk and be talked to. She enjoys laying on her changing table and kicking her legs and talking. Her tummy has been bothering her (gas) so sometimes she gets fussy- it breaks my heart bc she will be fine then all of a sudden make a real sad face and cry and then be fine. You can just tell she is in pain. Saturday we started giving her milicon drops and I think those help. She enjoyed all the different family members holding her at great gmas this weekend and was super easygoing.

Clothes:

Still in newborn but I'm not sure how much longer that will last so I'm putting her in her cute outfits a lot now bc I'm going to miss some of them- they are just too cute! Some fav's- her crabby bottom navy and red polka dot onesie, her little angel set that has glitter wings on the back and a tutu built into the pants, the I love mommy/ daddy loves me onesie with the grey striped pants with the pink heart on the bottom, and her brown dress with the Mary Jane pantyhose :)

Favorite Moments:

Laying in bed cuddling when she is gone nursing- when she's dozing off and when she's asleep. Talking to her, and her talking back and smiling at me.

Most Challenging:

Nights. Even though she is doing better I still have anxiety almost every night before bedtime about whether or not she's going to sleep or not. Sometimes it takes me longer to fall asleep than her. Her tummy- seeing her in pain hurts me!

Looking Forward To:

Thanksgiving with all the family, and more sleep of course (this reminds me of my weekly pregnancy post late in pregnancy ha)

Firsts:

SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! (it was only one night but who cares! It still counts! Ha)

Roadtrip!- to the mountains with great gma and gpa!! She did amazing and slept the while way there minus time to eat a bottle, and she slept the whole way home too! We had a great time and took our first family hike to the mailbox and back - daddy pushed you bc the hill was too steep for mommy!

RG and Daddy @ Great-gma and gpa's house the first time!

all bundled up and ready to go on a hike (even gripping her braids)

such a fun bumpy ride (which is why its so blurry ha!)

made it all the way to the mailbox! 

family photo... we don't have many of these :)

One month old!!!

One month ago today our little family of two became a very happy
family of THREE! I really can not believe how fast this first month
has gone by! We are so blessed! :) we love you Raleigh Grace!!

4 weeks old!

HAPPY 4 WEEKS BABY GIRL! :) 

Stats:this is technically a 3 1/2 week stat. We went for her 3 week

check up and she got a great report!! She weighed 7lbs 4 oz (20th

percentile- Dr said that she was just skinny just like her mamma was

at that age), her head circumference was 75th percentile, and she was

20 3/4 inches long. Karl says she isn't that much longer now compared

to birth (she was 20 1/2 inches) Is bc her head has changed shape. Dr

confirmed that could be true, and that happens often.

RG has started to get some acne and Dr m said it was completely normal

and would go away on it's on. Just to wash it with water only. (k also

had baby acne bad)

Dr was very happy with her growth and said she's perfectly healthy! ;)

Milestones:  when she was 3 weeks old she started following objects with her eyes really well an started talking. This week she has really started talking a LOT  more :) she will often start talking when I lay her down to change her diaper. I just looove when she coo's :)
-not really a milestone but she has developed baby acne. Thankfully we got her newborn pictures before this came. It started around her eyes but has spread all over her face and head and right at the top of her chest and back. It looks so sad and painful but the doc said it's totally normal and will go away in a couple of weeks or months (I'm hoping weeks, I just feel bad for her- it looks painful! Imagine tons of ant bites covering her face:( )

 

Feeding: for the most part she nurses about every 2 hours and if she's super tired (usually at night) she might only make it an hour to an hour and a half. The first 3 weeks of her life she would just nurse on one side but it seems she's about ready to nurse both sides in one feeding. Most of the time she would only nurse 10-15 minutes but this week she is nursing anywhere from 10-20 minutes.
She has also had some formula when we are out and nursing isn't convient. She isn't biased to the powder or premixed. She drinks them all the same. We have 3 different types of bottles and she doesn't seem to care which one you give her. She also will drink it whatever temp. One day when we were giving her breast milk in a bottle she was being very impatient so we gave it to her cold and she didn't even seem to notice. What a great, easy baby we have!

Sleep: this week has totally been up and down. She has had several nights where she just completely fights going to sleep period. She will stay up all night (like one night from 5pm-3am)... This makes for a very fussy baby and mamma. :( I was thinking this was a 3 week growth spurt (which it totally could be) but it's so random. Previous weeks she was sleeping as many as 5 hours at a time but more often 2-4 hours... This week it seems like she is sleeping super light and wakes up after 1 1/2 hours- 2 hours. And it takes a long time for her to get to sleep- she will doze off but wake up as soon as you move. In the morning hours 5am-noon-ish she will nurse and go back to sleep pretty good. I wonder if it's possible to have her nights and days mixed up yet... I feel like she's way too young for that but idk.
My cousin also loaned us a co-sleeper that we tried out for the first time Sunday night. If went well but not Monday night... She stayed up screaming and eating often until 3am so the 2 of us slept in the nursery.
Most nights she will sleep in her bouncer with her glow worm or the music on the bouncer playing and vibrating.
She also loves sleeping on daddy's chest. It might be the cutest thing ever :) 

Behavior: talking more... See above :)

Clothes: she fits perfectly in most newborn clothes. Her 0-3 outfits TOTALLY swallow her whole! Some of the newborn clothes are still a little big on her. She has been wearing some of my baby clothes that are preemies.  I'm not complaining at all! She's so cute in her little outfits, I'm glad she's getting to wear them multiple times. She also spends a lot of time in just a diaper or those awesome little hospital shirts with a diaper. She's been wearing some of those shirts that were my moms when she was a baby and some of my baby clothes as well :)

Favorite Moments: when she smiles, when she sighs after her sneezes, snuggling with her daddy doing roo-time, after she's nursed- letting her just cuddle with me-esp when she nurses while I'm laying on my side! Bath time- she's so content and happy :), talking to her and her talking to me!

Most Challenging: my mom leaving! She has been here for about a week and a half and has been the best help ever! Even staying up with RG all night to let me get some sleep!!! She left Sunday and I was pretty emotional Sunday and Monday. I missed her company more than anything.
the long nights when she fights going to sleep, ESP when she's gassy too! When she cries for no reason. When she dozes off to sleep then immediately wakes up.

my mom with RG :)

Looking Forward To: her sleeping harder and longer. Her smiling on purpose and just interacting more with her but I'm totally loving this stage minus the lack of sleep ha!

Firsts: first family walk at Lakeland.
First time feeding the ducks.
Met great grandmother Vivian, grandaddy chuck, and aunt Kellie at the cemetery.

Newborn Pictures!

Hello friends!

We are still here and are doing well! So sorry for the lack of blogging... I am praying we get internet soon so I can post more regularly and so I can leave more comments on your blogs (yes, I have been reading- my phone just takes for ever and only lets me comment about 50% of the time... thats another story-- my poor ORIGINAL iphone is on its last leg I believe -- santa, are you listening? ;) hehe)

Miss Raleigh Grace had her pictures taken by the wonderful Elizabeth Marx at Almond Leaf Studios! Elizabeth and I had so much fun, and RG was the perfect little baby... that is until mommy thought it would be a good idea to get some pictures of RG in her daddy's cowboy boot... I guess RG didn't like the idea because she decided she would pee in it haha!  Luckily daddy didn't mind too much and we got it cleaned out before it could soak into anything hahahaha!

Elizabeth has updated her blog with the pictures of Raleigh Grace! Be sure to check it out and leave your comments.  Here are couple pics to give you an idea and persuade you over to her site :)

I might be biased but I think I have the most beautiful baby ever!!! :)

by Elizabeth Marx at Almond Leaf Studios

by: Elizabeth Marx at Almond Leaf Studios